Gunners back on easy treat

Arsenal 3 Burnley 0

WHAT a perfect day at the office for Arsene Wenger as his side effortlessly cruised into the quarter-finals and a home game against Hull.

Another clean sheet and three great strikes extended his team’s unbeaten run to 17 games, and included a Goal of the Season contender from skipper Eduardo.

All that puts Arsenal in perfect heart for Wednesday’s second leg of their Champions League tie, at Roma.

Throw in the important fact that the Gunners were able to rest half their likely Euro starting line-up, as well as witnessing a sparkling 19-minute return from Theo Walcott after nearly four months out with injury, and you can see why manager Wenger was delighted. Don’t forget a confidence-boosting goal for Emmanuel Eboue – only his second of the season.

Burnley, who have laid a string of Premier League clubs to waste in domestic cups – including a young Arsenal at home in the Carling Cup quarter-finals – offered wholesome heart and soul. But Arsenal had class, guile and razor-sharp finishing.

Chief architects were Eduardo and Carlos Vela, the twin left-footers paired together up front as Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner were left on the bench.

Wenger, who rested Manuel Almunia, left-back Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri and Denilson, saw his team take the lead after 25 minutes.

Vela’s goal exemplified his skill and coolness, and demonstrated just why Wenger was in no hurry to bring in more players in the transfer window even as injuries to key players piled up.

Nothing much looked on when right-winger Chris Eagles failed to control a pass around the half-way line. Mexican striker Vela had other ideas as he accelerated clear after neatly slipping the ball through the legs of centre-back Clark Carlisle.

Not even the efforts of midfielder Joey Gudjonsson, who was tugging at the Arsenal man’s shirt, could stop Vela lofting the ball left-footed over keeper Brian Jensen for his fifth strike of the campaign. Eduardo, who became Arsenal’s eighth captain of the season – joining William Gallas, Kolo Toure, Cesc Fabregas, Lukasz Fabianski, Mikael Silvestre, Van Persie and Almunia – was denied a 40th-minute second by a perfect last-ditch tackle by Steven Caldwell.

Jensen then turned away Eboue’s goalbound effort in first-half stoppage time after a clever back-flick from Eduardo.

Andrei Arshavin, seemingly chasing a lost cause, just stopped the ball going out for a corner before passing to left-back Kieran Gibbs, who fed Song.

A chipped pass into the box was wonderfully and purposely met by the outside of Eduardo’s left heel.

The volley flew past a bemused Jensen and into the far top corner. That was the same leg that Brazilian-born Croatian international Eduardo broke after a challenge at Birmingham in February last year. His left ankle suffered an open dislocation in the same sickening moment.

Eduardo then headed a great chance wide, from Bacary Sagna’s cross, while Walcott, out of action since fracturing his shoulder on England duty, returned to much acclaim.

Only Jensen’s reflexes and frame stopped Walcott from marking his comeback with a 77th-minute goal, while fellow sub Van Persie, unusually, made a volleyed hash from Walcott’s precise chip three minutes later.

It didn’t really matter, as, six minutes from time, it was three.

Gallas’s pass was back-heeled by Song, wrong-footing several defenders in the box and allowing Eboue to finish low into the far corner.

Wenger said: “We did the job in a serious way today. We scored brilliant goals and there could have been many more. What is good before going off for the Roma match is that we did not concede any goals and scored several ourselves.

“We are going into the final sprint now just when all our injured players are coming back. And that can be decisive for our run-in.

“We are going into the Roma game with both belief and extreme desire to qualify.

“It is possible for us to win two pieces of silverware this season so what is important is we give everything to make that happen.”